value

It’s RAINING resources… Find ‘em and REIGN in yours!

resources

There is always so much around us – all the time – stuff that begs to be discovered and used by us…. And, so often, we simply don’t see it; or if we ‘see’ it we don’t realize that it’s ours for the taking. There are opportunities we miss, experiences we avoid, people we don’t engage with and ‘no’s’ that stop us – instead of inspiring us. What if it’s true that everything we ‘need’ is right here – right now? What if you actually saw your world that way? What if you stopped ‘seeking’ stuff and let the ‘finder’ in you take charge? What if your awareness was so BIG and so broad that you recognized the resources around you and used them? Are you smiling yet?

Years ago, when I worked and coached at a wonderful company called Process Prodigy, my focus was on creating systems to make our clients’ lives easier and their businesses more profitable. The systems were the proverbial ‘giving them the fish to eat for a day’. But of even more value was teaching them to recognize and reign in resources that they didn’t even know they had. Now they could “eat for a lifetime”!

Our clients learned how to delegate when there was seemingly no one to delegate to, to use systems to get more done in less time, and generally how to create a better life and build a more profitable business using whatever was available! First, of course, though I’m not sure that I realized it at the time, people had to learn to “see” and identify the resources around them.

And it was that ‘history’ of mine that led me to this blog… to identify the ‘steps’ I’ve used to become aware of the amazing resources I have. Now it’s time to share some of them with you!

  1. As usual, the first step is AWARENESS. I expect to find resources, so I’m constantly looking for them, open to them and noticing possibilities and opportunities at every turn of my head. It might be a penny on the street (walked on and over by countless others), a for-sale sign, or a new acquaintance that ‘knows somebody who knows somebody’; all are potential resources. All are on my radar.
  2. Although I hesitate to use the term ‘think outside the box’, it is what I do. I take little at ‘face value’ and ponder (there’s a word we don’t use very often) what else could that be used for or what else could that mean?
  3. It’s formulate the questions time! I know that my brain, my always busy mind, is my GREATEST RESOURCE so I use it – I ‘google’ it – with a barrage of open ended, positively formed questions and wait for the answers to start flowing. They always do…
  4. I love the California lottery slogan, “you can’t win if you don’t play”… so I play! Commonly heard from my lips: “Let’s give it a shot! Let’s make it happen! Sounds good to me! I’m IN! Let’s do this thing!”
  5. ASK!!! I don’t hesitate to ask – anyone… anything! I ask for help. I ask for suggestions. I ask for what I want. I ask for what I need. It’s amazing how supportive Universe and its inhabitants can be! Asking gets me so much! might be the perfect parking spot or (and I swear this really happened) a huge discount on a new car…sometimes it’s a new client, much needed information or a date. It’s even gotten me the mentor of my dreams!
  6. NO isn’t the end. It is not a stop sign for me. I see a “NO” simply as an opportunity to get creative and try something else. There is no failure for me. When something doesn’t ‘work’ I get inspired and fired up. There’s always another way…
  7. I VALUE the resources I have and I’m GRATEFUL for them all. It’s not unusual to hear me thank my car (who’s name, by the way, is ‘Coach’) for getting me safely and comfortably from place to place. The people in my life are amazing. I know it and I let them know it, too. Even when I am feeling ‘technologically challenged’ there is gratitude for all that technology affords me.

Money, time, people, ideas, tools; all the resources I have… I am grateful and humbled by their magnitude and magnificence!

Want more? Are you ready to create your own system for reigning in your multitude of resources? That’s the topic this week on Motivate and Activate, your source (make that RESOURCE) for weekly Coaching and Conversation. (More info and registration details at: https://whatdoisaywhatdoido.com)

 

 

BUSYNESS is a CHOICE – Part 2

Busy

BUSYNESS is a CHOICE – Part 2

By Sandye Linnetz

For people like me, being busy is a choice, not a condition. Yes, we all have the same amount of time each day and we choose how to use that time. I like to stay busy (BUSY, I hear, is the new “fine”). If we’re “crazy busy” our egos get to celebrate our supreme importance. And, come on, who doesn’t like to be supremely important? We probably won’t miss anything even if we’re not constantly checking email and social media, but… why take that chance, right? And, in case we don’t get something done (or done really well or completed on time), we do have a popularly accepted, credible excuse. And in case we don’t want to do something, we have a built in excuse for not doing that, too. We were busy. The question is: Busy doing what?

When busyness is courted as a virtue, we give it carte blanche to be used as a description of who we are and the REASON for what we do and don’t do. I call ‘bull-shit’! There’s no such thing as being too busy to do something you value. If it truly matters to you, you make the time for it. When we tell someone we’re “too busy”, it isn’t necessarily a reflection of our schedule – it’s more likely to be a reflection of where they (or what they need or want from us) are on our priority list. Ouch, that doesn’t feel very good…

Here’s a thought: What if we didn’t gauge the value of our days by how busy we were – or even how productive, but by how we (and those in our lives) feel at the end of a day? If you really WANT to be busy, be busy… I’m going to be busy taking a run this morning. After that I have decided to be busy taking a relaxing shower and maybe even a short nap before I do client calls and writing. I know I’ll be wildly productive because I’ll be busy being grateful, doing good and spreading joy, too! What will you be busy doing today?

P.S. I did it. I ran (though I was sorta busy listening to a book on tape at the same time) and I did have a long and lovely shower (yes, there’s a drought so I guess I won’t wash tomorrow). I skipped the nap but I did at least sit down and do NOTHING for 10 minutes straight (it seemed so much loooonger)! Here’s what I noticed: PEACE and CALM! I got everything done and felt terrific. The only thing I didn’t do was play computer games – no loss there. So, I got busy doing things that totally supported me and had extra energy for the work I FOCUSED on later in the day.

There’s NO BUSY-NESS like slow busyness.